


Till the end of the line

by River_of_Dawn



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Asexual Character, Bisexual Character, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers (2012), Coming Out, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, No Sex, Non-Canon Relationship, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Trans Male Character, Trans Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 02:28:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20649710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/River_of_Dawn/pseuds/River_of_Dawn
Summary: Steve hadn't been born Steve.This is his journey.





	Till the end of the line

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** I don't own Marvel nor the characters. Also, sadly, I don't get any money out of this.
> 
> **Warnings:** None I can think about. Some homophobia mentioned, but I tried to keep this story without anything really bad.
> 
> **Notes:** I am not a native English speaker. If you notice any mistakes feel free to tell me :)

Steve had always been sickly. With weak lungs, a small body and no strength he had always been picked on.

At least until Bucky. When he met Bucky the older boy would help him out, protect him.

And after one year Steve told him in a small corner near the warehouses about himself. About how him being small wasn't only the missing food and sicknesses, but about how he had been born in the wrong body -- Stephanie Rogers.

Bucky had laughed, ruffled his hair, making the ten-year old shriek and turn away.

"D'you think I didn't notice, punk?" the eleven year old had said with a bright grin on his dirt streaked face.

And Steve had turned and looked at him with wide eyes.

"You don't mind me being..." he had swallowed the insult lying on the tip of his tongue.

"Course not." Bucky had waved carelessly with his hand. "Why would that matter Stevie?"

"So you'll stay my friend?" Steve had looked up at the older boy with his eyes wide open, a small smile on his lips.

"'Till the end of the line," Bucky had promised.

"...'till the end of the line," Steve had whispered in confirmation, before hugging the older boy tightly.

And that was it as far as the two boys were concerned. And if Bucky took extra care the next time he cut Steve's hair, well, nobody would notice him turning the young blond around, hugging him tightly before taking a step back, tilting Steve's head up and saying "Handsome". And certainly nobody other then the two of them would notice how the warm feeling in Steve's chest showed on his face.

After Steve's mom died Bucky took him in, working extra hard to keep them both afloat, providing Steve's medicine and food.

The night Bucky told him he had been drafted, Steve cried.

They spent the night sitting next to each other on a ratty mattress, arm in arm.

When Bucky tried to kiss Steve's hair to comfort him, the younger turned his face up, their lips meeting.

It was soft and slow and perfect, but with a shot of adrenaline coursing through them both. They had both seen queer couples before -- they lived in Brooklyn after all -- but the action still held the whisper of forbidden and dangerous.

When Bucky finally pulled away, he saw that Steve had his eyes closed with a relaxed look on his face.

Without thinking about it, he pulled Steve closer, as the first rays of sunlight entered the room through the slit in the curtains.

Determined to not leave Bucky alone, Steve took to trying to enlist.

But even though he did it under his male name, he was still too frail to even be considered for the army. Again and again he was sent away, until one day he was pulled aside.

When he heard about the proposal of Dr. Erskine, Steve had to smile.

"I'll do it."

The best part about the deal with the serum was, when Erskine told him, that it would change his physique. It would be similar to changing him into the perfect male soldier.

So when Steve stepped out of the tube, breathless and _manly_, he felt the overwhelming urge to just hug the scientist for what he had made possible, barely even noticing his chest being touched by Carter.

Then the shots. The chase through Brooklyn. Erskine dead.

And suddenly he was a... model? Figurehead? A... supersoldier for the masses to look up to.

Until one day he had the chance to save Bucky.

The time after rescuing the 107th was spent with Bucky. They would share a tent in the night, tenderly holding each other, sometimes sharing a few shy, intimate kisses. Steve had a feeling the rest of the group knew about _them_, but since nobody ever said anything it was kept as an open secret in the same way nobody said anything when after Morita almost died, Jones spent the whole time next to his bunk, holding his hand. As long as nothing explicit happened nobody could give them a blue ticket.

When Bucky died Steve was devastated.

Whilst they had never officially been a couple he still felt as if a big chunk of him was missing. Feeling as if live without Bucky wasn't worth living Steve crashed the plane into the water.

Waking up again was... confusing and disorientating.

The world had changed so much over the last 70 years. There were flashing billboards everywhere and everybody had a portable phone.

And Bucky was still dead.

On the positive side, during those 70 years nobody had found out that he had been born a girl, Steve figured.

After the Chitauri -- aliens... _aliens_, not flying cars, but aliens -- Steve moved into the space Howard's son had offered. He had an apartment in the biggest city he had ever been in, surrounded by millions of people and had never felt more lonely. He couldn't even leave the tower for fear of being recognized as Captain America.

Therefore he had a lot of free time. In the beginning he looked up, what the world thought of him nowadays. He drew. He read. He worked-out. Time passed.

Apparently a lot of people thought they knew him better then he knew himself. Used him to further their own ideals. Steve hated it.

He had just been to the gym to cool down when he ran into Pepper Potts, Tony's CEO. As she noticed the anger in his face, she grew concerned.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes. I mean, no, not really." Steve ran a hand through his hair, as always enjoying the feeling of short hair.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The redhead shifted her stance, looking Steve in the eye.

"'S just... There are all these people using Captain America to further their own ideas and I... I just hate it. How could they say such things and dare tell others I think the same? It's... frustrating."

"Do you want to release a press statement?"

"I can do that?" Steve was surprised. Before he had crashed the plane he had had no say about all of that. Captain America was a symbol of the American military and had no say about his own opinion.

"Sure. Let's go in my office, so we can talk about it." Pepper smiled.

Steve smiled back, feeling as if he had just made the first friend in this century, met the first person who saw Steve and not Captain America.

"I would like that," he answered honestly.

Pepper lead him to her office and gestured for him to pull a chair over, so they could sit next to each other behind the desk.

"So, what is the problem?"

Steve sighed. "There was this protest at Pride against queer folks and in the news report I saw how one protester had this sign with a picture of me saying... saying that I'm against queer folks." He swallowed, suddenly a bit afraid. Logically he _knew_ Pepper would support him and that it was no longer considered sick, but he was still apprehensive, years of hiding having taking their toll on him.

Pepper just smiled encouragingly.

"But, I'm not against them. I'm... I...," he cut himself off.

"You don't have to say anything you don't want to, Steve," Pepper assured him.

"No. I... I wanna do this. I wasn't exactly born like this. And not just all the muscles, but... everything."

"Which means?"

"I was born Stephanie Rogers. I... Huh, that was easier then I thought."

"Thank you for telling me, Steve. Is that what you want to put in the press release?"

"No! I mean... No, I'd rather not. I don't think I'm ready for that quite yet," Steve admitted, looking down.

"That's alright. What do you want to put down instead?"

"I dunno." He huffed a short laugh. "Maybe just that I support queer folks and consider myself part of them? Something like that?" He rubbed his neck sheepishly.

"I can do that. The press release can be out in a few minutes, if that's alright with you?"

"That's great! Thank you so much for your help."

"You're welcome." Pepper smiled warmly and stood.

Steve stood as well, taking it as his cue that he was excused. But then he was surprised as Pepper opened her arms and hugged him.

He held onto her tightly. The hug felt nice, comforting in a way almost nothing did in this strange world.

As expected, the media exploded when the information about him being LGBTQIA+ (As it was apparently called nowadays) came to light. Pepper took care of forwarding pictures of queer teens using him as a symbol, as well as several invitations to talk shows. Steve declined all of them.

When Natasha and Clint came back from a mission almost a year later they brought with them a defected former Soviet soldier.

And in the moment Steve saw him, saw those eyes and the sly grin he couldn't help but grin back.

Running forward, hugging and kissing his <strike>best friend</strike> lover without caring about anybody seeing them just seemed like the most natural thing in that moment.

A year later they went to Pride together, hand in hand, flags over their shoulders. They had hidden themselves for years, the time of hiding was over.

The next day the newspapers featured a picture of Steve, Trans flag over his shoulder, his iconic suit in bisexual colours, with a demiromantic flag on his face, leaning sidewards to kiss Bucky, eyes closed, who had an asexual flag painted on his face, with a rainbowflag over his shoulders.

And if Steve cut the picture out of the newspaper and framed it, so it could hang on the wall in their bedroom, well, who could blame him? It had after all been one of the happiest days in his life, with all the colours, happiness and support surrounding him and his boyfriend.

Thinking about the ring in his suitpocket he smiled. Soon he would be able to add another day.

Yes, 'till the end of the line, indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it :)
> 
> If so, feel free to leave feedback. In case this story gets popular enough, I might add some chapters for other Avengers.
> 
> In case you don't know what a _blue ticket_ is: When soldiers were found to be homosexual, or thought to be homosexual, they would be sent home with a blue ticket, which was neither a honourable discharge, nor a dishonorable one. But it would put targets on the soldier's backs.


End file.
